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Created Intellectual Property
__FORCETOC__ Automatic Rights Automatic Rights ''' When dealing with intellectual property, not all property needs formal registration as they are automatically assigned rights when created. The two types of automatic rights for intellectual property are copyright and circuit layout. '''Copyright In Australia, copyright is free and automatic. It exists to protect the original expression of ideas, but not the ideas themselves. Works protected by copyright include: * books * films * music * sounds recordings * newspaper and magazines * artwork * computer programs How it works A work is automatically covered by copyright the moment it is documented, either on paper or electronically. Because of this automatic process, there is no official registry or application process in Australia. Copyright doesn't protect your work against creation of a similar work. Because of this, legal action against infringements are often complicated by the fact that a number of different copyrights may exist for similar work. Copyright Notice Because copyright is automatic in Australia, it is not necessary to use a copyright notice on your work. Although placing a copyright notice in a prominent place on your work can act as a reminder to other people that the work is covered by copyright. This is different in some countries where to establish copyright, the copyright mark is necessary. Duration Copyright generally lasts for 70 years after the creator's death, or from the year of first publication after the author's death. Circuit Layout Circuit layout laws are heavily based on copyright laws, although they differ a little. They cover the layout design or plans of integrated circuits used in computer equipment. If you are the owner of a layout design, you do not have to register it to be given the rights. These rights include the exclusive right to copy the layout in material form, make integrated circuits from the layout and exploit it commercially in Australia. Protection lasts from the first commercial exploitation of the layout, and continues for 10 years. This first commercial exploitation must be within 10 years of the creation of the layout, which essentially gives you 20 years of protection. Formally Registered Rights Registering business content as intellectual property is an effective strategy for a business to protect its intellectual assets. Without registering them as IP, you would have to rely on common law to protect your property, which can be tricky when it comes to created content. There are a number of ways you can protect your intellectual property: Patents A patent is legally enforceable and allows you the exclusive right to commercially exploit your invention for the life of the patent. There are two types of patents in Australia. * Standard Patents'Provide long term protection and control over an invention for up to 20 years from the day you file the application. * '''Innovation Patents'Designed to protect creations that are innovative ideas or creations, but not necessarily new inventions. They protect your idea for up to eight years, and dont allow you to stop others from copying your innovation unless your innovation patent is examined. '''Trademarks Trademarks are used to distinguish your product from another, and give you the exclusive right to use, license or sell your product in Australia. They cover: * letters * numbers * words * phrases * sounds * smells * shapes * logos * pictures * aspect of packaging * Any combination of these that distinguishes your product from another. The owner of a trade mark can apply for its registration. The registration period initially lasts for 10 years and can be continued indefinitely providing that you pay renewal fees. However, other applicants can apply to have your trade mark deregistered if you haven’t used it for more than three years. Registered Designs * You can register the design of your product if it has an industrial or commercial use, and has a visual appearance that is both new and distinctive. This includes the shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation that creates a unique appearance when applied to your product. A registered design doesn’t protect how your product feels, what it’s made of or how it works. Registering the design of your product can prevent others from using the design without your permission. * Under the Designs Act 2003, registration will protect your design for up to 10 years. * If you think you’ve got a distinctive product design that should be registered, search IP Australia’s databases to ensure it hasn’t already been registered. Our Created Intellectual Property Kinect Rig: For the Kinect Rig we've designed, the most effective way to protect it would be with an Innovation Patent. We do not require the extensive lifetime provided by a standard patent, since the technology will almost definitely be updated within 8 years an innovation patent lasts. Nor is the design particularly revolutionary, so it's possible it wouldn't meet the inventive step required for a standard patent. To apply for an Innovation Patent, you are required to provide complete specifications. These would include a full written description of the product, as well as technical and conceptual drawings to enforce the description. There must also be claims, which are single sentences that define precisely what we are hoping to protect, such as “''A 3d scanning device mounted on a rotating bearing which can be transported around a room using 4 independently controlled wire pulleys connected to said bearing''.”. We would be required to pay $180 plus $500 to have it formally examined, allowing us to fully enforce our patent rights. The patent is usually granted within 1 month, rather than the 5 years of a standard patent. Crysis Level: The level and models in CryEngine could potentially be protected by registering the design with IP Australia, which protects the visual elements of a design. However, the level, while useful, contains very limited visual disinctiveness, and ultimately does not affect the functioning of the product itself, since it's a platform for a visual representation rather than part of the actual operation of the product. The original 3d models we've created, such as the house models, are automatically protected by copyright, however none of them are distinct enough to be worth registering as a design. Logo/Name: If we where to go into business with this product, we would have to come up with a official company and product name, and most probably a logo as well. These could be protected through trademarking, however, this is not essential, as we would still be protected under common law. Software Created: If we where to commercialise this product, we would not be using CryEngine due to A) The excessive cost and B) The irrelevance of the majority of the features in CryEngine to the actual function of the product. As such we would most likely create our own sofware, which would be protected by copyright as a “Literary work”, and as such completely ours to sell or distribute. Provided, as Steven explained, we do not distribute any code not belonging to us, such as the Microsoft SDK. We can use the Arduino code, as Steven also mentioned, though if we where to modify the base code, we would be required to release it as open source software. However it's highly unlikely we'll need to do this, so we're free to do what we want. References: http://www.davies.com.au/content/24/patents/innovation-patents http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/copyright/ http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/designs/ http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/trade-marks/ http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/patents/ http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/understanding-intellectual-property/what-is-ip/ http://www.business.gov.au/BusinessTopics/Intellectualproperty/Automaticrights/Pages/default.aspx